I'm 63 years old and Happy

My birthday was yesterday.

My wonderful husband took the day off and had surprises in store for me. After dropping Buddy off at the kennel we headed for Seattle. Buddy usually goes everywhere with us except for Church and the movies but this time he couldn't. Sorry buddy. He gets treated very well at the place he stays so I didn't worry.

First surprise--we went on a tour of Safeco Field.

Since we love the Mariners it was fun to see places at the stadium that we had never seen and wouldn't be able to on a game day.

We found out that for $2,400 we can rent a suite for one game and have 18 people with us.

They are really nice and it would be fun to have our entire family there for an evening of baseball and food. We won't ever do it because first on the list would be to take a cruise with our children and families but if we were rich it would be fun.

Second surprise--we headed for lunch at the Space Needle but by the time we got there they had stopped seating an hour earlier. Dewey was disappointed because he had planned the day perfectly, but right across the street was Sport Restaurant and Bar.

We went there and no one was eating at the time so it was like we had the entire place to ourselves.  The waiter was great and the food delicious. We spent half the money we would have at the Space Needle. The food was delicious and I would go again. We had freshly squeezed strawberry lemonade. The best I have ever had. I had clam chowder and Dewey had a tomato basil soup. Very rich--lots of butter. Dewey had a Kobe beef hamburger that was advertised the best in Seattle and it was. I had a Reuben sandwich. I had to bring half of it home because it was so big. The french fries were incredible. Very small, fresh and crisp. A very good meal and very satisfying.

Third surprise-seeing Avatar at the IMAX in 3-D.

My family said I was the last person West of the Mississippi who hadn't seen it but our waiter hadn't seen it so I really was second to last. I liked it.

The only problem I had was getting motion sickness at times. We were surprised at the amount of people at the theater at 4pm on a Tuesday afternoon.

It was a wonderful birthday for me.  Last Saturday night Dewey, Paul and I went to The Outback for dinner. Paul gave me his present which was blown up pictures of Buddy that he and Buddy had taken sometime previous. Paul is in Mexico for the week so we celebrated early with him. I heard from all my children and grandchildren. I also heard from extended family and some of my friends here. It was a wonderful birthday for me.  Thank you Dewey and Devin and Paul and Brian and Spencer and Jeffrey and little grandchildren and friends.

I am grateful for one other very important thing. On Monday--day before my birthday I received a call back from the doctor. The mass on my kidney turned out to be a cyst and not cancer. For a week we have worried about that possibility and after two cat-scans an MRI and a lot of blood work the results came back  and it was determined to be a cyst. We are so very thankful and know that prayers are answered. I have a wonderful life and I had a wonderful birthday.

The Holidays are Over and the New Year has Begun.

We have been busy the last several weeks...and sick...and traveling...and visiting with our children and grandchildren.


The Saturday before Christmas (the 19th) Dewey and I had our annual tamale making day.

We love tamales and have them Christmas morning for breakfast and many other times during the holidays and beyond until they are gone.

We wish we would have started this tradition of making our own tamales when we first got married because our children would have been involved. Paul is our only child who has been here to have the experience. 

We decided  about three years ago that we were tired of not finding San Antonio tamales anywhere and we FINALLY make them ourselves.

Our friends, the Manns, had been making them for years and they were our inspiration, giving us the courage to make our own.

We also exchange tamales with them (better than a cookie exchange for us). Sadly, the Manns are moving to New Mexico and we will miss them.

Christmas was very quiet this year. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we watched "It's A Wonderful Life", "Elf", and "White Christmas". Since "Christmas Story " was on 24/7 we watched parts of that too. Paul didn't arrived home from Seattle until 4PM on Christmas Day so we opened presents very late.

I guess when there are no little ones in the house getting up at the crack of dawn to see if Santa arrived is not a prority.

We went to see our friend Sister DelMar Lonetto on Christmas Eve.  She 's 100 years old!  We took her a little decorated Christmas tree. She was sleeping and we didn't want to wake her. Unfortunately, it was the last time we saw her as she died on January 17th. She was a wonderful example of righteous womanhood and enduring to the end. We will miss her.


Spencer and the boys arrived on December 26th.

Their friend Wendy also came.

We had Christmas with them that day.

They were here for a week and as always we loved having them.

We were able to help Little Spencer with his MISSION PROJECT while he was here.

You see, Fourth graders in Califronia have to do a project on one of the California missions. Spencer chose Mission San Luis Rey de Francia for his.

Devin tells us she remembers that when she was in fourth grade in California she did one too. We don't remember that. I think back then we must have done something with a shoe box. Not so these days. Spencer turned it in on time and made an A++++++ (just like in "Christmas Story) and 100% on the mission itself and on the report that accompanied it and on the extra credit.

Way to go Spencer!

Meanwhile a few weeks earlier we got "Flat Stanley" in the mail  from Connor.

His school project involved asking us to show "Flat Stanley" around our area and then send him back with a journal of what he and we did together.

"Flat Stanley" was our guest and we had fun doing that.

We haven't heard yet on Connor's grade.

Dewey and I really enjoyed being able to be a part of Spencer and Connor's activities.

One week is not enough time to do all the things we would like to do with our grandsons but we put the time to good use while they were here.

One half of the month of January was spent taking down Christmas decorations. If it takes that long maybe there are too many decorations?


We kept getting sick in December and January and had to postpone our trip to see baby Elaine but by January 18th we got up very early and left for Utah. 

That night we were the first overnight company in Devin and Carl's new home.

It is very lovely and we are so happy for them.

It snowed, Buddy and Ella had a great time together, Hayden is adorable, we ate at J-Dawgs,

 In-n-Out Burger (twice) and Five Guys (Carl wanted us to compare).

Dewey took in a BYU basketball game with Devin, Jeffrey and Becky (Jeff's girlfriend),

we ate BYU donuts on the BYU Quadrangle,

spent time in the BYU bookstore and visited other places like Costco.

Needless to say Dewey is elated about In-n-Out Burgers being in Utah. It's up in the air whether Five Guys or In-n-Out is better but I believe if one were to be built here in Puyallup it would have to be an In-n-Out for Dewey.

You are probably wondering why we went to Utah first. Brian had to be back to work on January 19th but he had a three day weekend on the 21st-24th so we planned it so Brian would be able to spend more time with us. Orginally we were leaving on the 11th to spend the  first part of the week in California and then come home through Utah but being sick put a crimp in those plans.  So on the 21st we left Devin and Carl and Hayden and started out for California.  We had mostly bad weather the entire trip and it even rained a lot while we were in California.

Baby Elaine is beautiful!

Brian and Flora went out on a real date on Friday night and we babysat. It was great.

I got to bathe Elaine.

She loved her bath but wasn't too happy about putting on her diaper and pajamas. Flora and Brian had been preparing her by getting her use to a bottle for us. So Dewey and I both got to feed her.

Dewey had the magic touch.

He seemed to be able to soothe her by putting her on his knee--stomach down. Hooray for the Grandpa. 

We were so excited because at Brian's you can call for take out Thai food so we did. I think it is a good thing we can't do that here. It would be very dangerous for us. And costly too.

We went to a Farmer's market in Santa Monica.

Buddy was not allowed in. We had never heard of such a thing. Some kind of health ordinance :). Buddy and I hung out in other areas of the park.

We spent some time at Costco, Trader Joe's and other places. We bought Elaine a bathtub (she out grew her first one) and Dewey found a giraffe that makes soothing sounds.

Brian says Elaine loves it.

Brian is quite the chef.

He was preparing all kinds of things for us. Flora made delicious breakfasts. 

We had dinner with Spencer, Little Spencer, Connor and Wendy's family on Sunday.

Spencer barbecued.

We left early Monday morning the 25th and drove straight through. It took 17 and a half hours. The weather was bad again. Did I mention we had a third In-n Out Burger in St. George Utah on the way down?


Hayden just celebrated her 2nd birthday on February 3rd. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HAYDEN.

Elaine was 2 months old on February 3rd. So on February 3rd Hayden was 2, Elaine was 2 months and they were 22 months apart. 2--2--22!!!!


We are sure that things haven't been mentioned but this blog would go on forever. We will try to keep up better so the blogs are shorter and easier to read.


Now we are home and missing our children and grandchildren. Thanks to all of them for showing us a good time and loving us. WE LOVE YOU.